1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to a method and a technical arrangement for transporting live fish or shellfish, wherein live fish/shellfish are placed in a container containing water, and wherein the container is transported by means of an ordinary means of surface transport, including boat, railway, lorry or car, and wherein the transport of such live organisms may extend over several hours or days.
2. Background of the Invention
The invention has its background in the many practical problems and drawbacks connected to known methods, arrangements and systems for is transporting fish raw materials in the form of fish or shellfish. This must be viewed in particular in the light of a strong growth in the world population, which has resulted in the transport of increasingly large amounts of foodstuffs, among them fish raw materials, over increasingly large distances and/or for a long time from a place of origin to a place of use, and possibly across frontiers. Therefore, to allow transport of large amounts of fish raw materials, it must be possible for the transport to be carried out in a highly efficient manner, both as regards individual transports and, especially, as regards individual transports made into a system (transport system).
In addition, it must be possible for fish and shellfish to be delivered in a satisfactory quality at the relevant place of use. In many consumer markets a satisfactory quality amounts to a whish for fresh foods, and for this reason the demand in the market for live fish and shellfish is constantly increasing. This increase in demand has resulted in, i.a., a large growth in existing and related farming activities, but also in the establishment of new types of farming activities, both as regards types of farmed organisms, types of farming facilities and as regards farming locations. Additionally it is expected that in future both existing and newly established farming activities will expand greatly. In this connection there is also expected an increasing need for transporting live farmed organisms of different types and possibly in different phases of development, including fry for farming, between different geographical locations.
To be able to meet both the existing and coming needs for transport of large quantities of live fish and shellfish, the fish raw materials must, as mentioned, be carried by means of efficient transport systems. On the one hand a transport system is a logistics manoeuvre, whereas on the other hand it is the provision and assembling of technical devices, arrangements and methods that are necessary in order to carry out this logistics manoeuvre. This invention deals with the technical aspect of a transport system, and the invention thus deals with suitable arranging and assembling of technical devices, arrangements and methods which increase the is efficiency of the transport system as regards bulk transport of live fish and shellfish.
Known Technique
Freezing, cooling, canning, salting and drying represent known methods of preventing different foodstuffs, among them meat from different organisms including i.a. fish and shellfish, from going bad or being spoilt in time. Therefore, most of said methods are well suited for preserving the foodstuff when it is transported across large distances and/or for a long time. With a few exceptions, all of said methods assume that the organism from which the meat originates, is put to death before the meat is preserved. Therefore, such a meat product is normally not considered as fresh food, even though some such meat products, e.g. newly slaughtered fish cooled in ice cubes, are commonly referred to as fresh food as they are sold/consumed in their cooled state shortly thereafter. On the other hand, for a shorter period of time, e.g. for one day, it is possible to cool and store, e.g. during transport, live shellfish, e.g. mussels and oysters, before they are sold/consumed shortly thereafter.
In the following, on the other hand, examples are given of known technique comprising devices, facilities and methods for use in the transport of live fish.
The patent publication NO 6786 from the year 1897 discloses a “Transport carriage for live fish with an automatically working watering device”. In principle this “watering device” is a pump device which is placed and arranged in the transport carriage in such a way that it is started when the carriage, for example a railway carriage, is put into motion, whereupon water is pumped and circulated through the vessel filled with water.
The patent publication NO 8046 from the year 1898 also discloses a “Carriage for the transport of live fish”, in which the carriage is for example a railway carriage. The carriage is provided with a fish container filled with water, and other apparatus located externally to the container for filtering the water and for controlling the air saturation of the water and the temperature. Thereby the carriage should allow use across very long distances and in changing temperature conditions, and this without the water having to be replaced. The invention thus deals with technical features of the carriage, mainly the fish container and its associated devices, materials and equipment, which are necessary in order to give the fish the living-conditions necessary during transport in order for them to survive.
The patent publication No 53182 from the year 1931 discloses on the other hand a “Car for transporting live fish”, and the publication discloses in particular a device for the replenishing of water in a fish container on the car. Similar to that of NO 8046, this fish container is also, through suitable pipes, provided with a circulation device connected to a filtration apparatus and an air supply apparatus for treating the water. The invention is distinguished moreover by a heating device, which will prevent the circulation pipes from freezing, and thereby will give the water a temperature suitable for the fish.
The Norwegian patent application 891163 discloses a “Device for transporting live fish” in a container. During transport the fish often gather at the bottom of the container, and this may lead to mechanical damage and/or oxygen-lack for the fish.
Therefore, the invention consists in arranging the container in such a way that a vertically directed flow of water rich in oxygen is created, which is forced through the live fish mass within the container, whereupon the water flow lifts the fish up from the bottom of the container, preventing mechanical damage from being caused to the fish.
The Norwegian patent application 863276 discloses a “Plant for the transport of live fish, especially smolt”. The application discloses a cylindrical fish container which is arranged through its structural features and associated equipment in such a way that water is re-circulated at a specific flow rate which is favourable to the survival of the fish in the container.
The patent publications NO 170613 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,220,880 disclose methods and apparatus for transporting and storing live fish. As opposed to the above-mentioned inventions, both inventions deal with the use of a case or a compartment in which the live fish are placed individually during transport, and in which, during the transport/storage, water provided with suitable properties is flowing through the case/compartment, giving the fish the necessary living conditions.
The patent publications U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,844,012, 5,117,777 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,309,868 also deal with transport of live fish. These publications assume, as opposed to all the above-mentioned publications, that during the transport the fish are put into a passive or hibernation-like state. In this state a collection of fish will stay calm, whereby mechanical damage to the fish is essentially avoided. Thereby fish may be gathered in larger concentrations and thereby be carried in a smaller transport volume than when the fish are active. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,844,012 common species of fish are rendered passive in that a state of so-called “piscine immobility syndrome” is induced in the fish, which is a kind of hypnotic immobility state. According to the publication this state is achieved by physically restricting the movement of the fish and at the same time supply the fish with water of good quality. In U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,177,777 and 5,309,868, on the other hand, the fish are put into a hibernation-like state in that the fish are cooled to a temperature within a specific temperature range which is not harmful to the fish, after which the fish are kept cooled within this temperature range during transport. After the transport the fish may possibly be activated in that the temperature is increased to its normal temperature. Otherwise, all three publications disclose assemblies of devices and equipment, including suitable storage containers, which are used in order to transport the fish in this passive or hibernation-like state and to give the fish the necessary living conditions for them to survive the transport.
Drawbacks of Known Technique
The above-mentioned publications concerning known technique for transporting live fish or shellfish mainly focus on methods and technical means, including suitable storage containers and devices/equipment, for keeping the fish/shellfish alive during their transport by a suitable means of transportation. The publications focus by and large on describing these means seen in relation to individual transports and not in relation to individual transports made into systems (transport systems). In these publications the means of transportation is mentioned only as a technical necessity to allow transportation of the fish products, so that the means of transportation is of subordinate importance relative to the inventive contents of the publications. Thus, the publications focus to a small degree on how such technical means in a larger connection may be assembled and arranged to the means of transportation in order thereby to enable an efficient bulk transport of live fish and shellfish across large distances and/or for a long time. On the other hand, this is a technical challenge which the present invention seeks to remedy.
The publications U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,844,012, 5,117,777 and 5,309,868 do indeed disclose methods and apparatus for rendering fish passive during transport, so that the fish may thereby be carried concentrated and alive in a small, and thereby relatively light-weight, transport volume. This concentration of fish thus represents an efficiency improvement relative to transport volume, and thereby transport weight, which is of particularly great importance in transport by air. Keeping the fish in a pacified state during their transport, requires on the other hand that the user i.a. understands, and can utilize, the mechanisms that render the fish passive. For this purpose is also required the use of relatively comprehensive and/or complex devices/equipment, including special storage containers and equipment for controlling/monitoring the survival parameters of the fish, in particular the temperature, in order to keep the fish alive in a harmless way during transport. From this it appears, i.a., that the methods assume the use of relatively expensive, complex and comprehensive technical equipment. In practice this limits the use of the methods to relatively special fields of application, including transport by air and/or to the use for special users/customer groups. In such connections such methods and associated apparatus may be well suited for carrying concentrated amounts of live fish across large distances. For bulk transport, on the other hand, the methods are, due to their technical limitations of use and poor cost-effectiveness, not very suitable for transporting live fish or shellfish in an efficient way.